The Brief: Livestreaming Drones and Periscope, Facebook Live and News Feed

TL;DR

Livestreaming developments and major updates with Periscope, Facebook Live, and Facebook News Feed. Here are some highlights:

Drones can now livestream to Periscope

In addition to supporting GoPro broadcast live footage, Periscope has opened support for drone livestreaming. It’s also adding search functionality to find livestreams by keyword or topic (e.g., #music and #food).

Example: Zagat using drone to show viewers around Farm

Typically, Periscope livestreams have been deleted after 24 hours, but with this new search feature, it may be shifting its strategy now that it’s integrated into Twitter.

Source: @LaurenJohnson @ AdWeek, May 9, 2016

One month in: Four things the New York Times has learned using Facebook Live

The New York Times is one of several publishers using Facebook Live, which lets users transmit live video. Topics include a live streamed nuptial, tours of Havana, and live interviews with Caitlyn Jenner.

Four things it’s learned so far:

1. It’s not video, it’s “live interactive journalism.”
2. BuzzFeed’s watermelon explosion nailed why the format works. Over 10.6M views so far.
3. Videos don’t have to be tied to stories within the newspaper.
4. A video’s success isn’t dictated by the number of viewers.

Source: Jordan Valinsky @ DIGIDAY, May 11, 2016

News Feed FYI: Taking into account live video when ranking feed

Since it launched in December 2015, Facebook Live video has become more popular. Now, Facebook has made an update so that Facebook Live videos are more likely to appear higher in News Feed when those videos are live, compared to after. People spend more than 3x more time watching a Facebook Live video than a video that’s no longer live.

Source: Vibhi Kant and Jie Xu @ Facebook, March 1, 2016